5 Creative ways of using Keywords and Virtual Numbers for SMS marketing
With only 160 characters per text message, you may wonder why you should use SMS. It may not seem flexible at first, but it’s the opposite. SMS is a powerful tool that can get your customers to take action. Here are five creative ways that you can use it.
1. Driving traffic to your landing pages
You may have heard of using websites to drive conversion, but have you considered using landing pages instead?
According to Unbounce, a landing page is a “standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign.” They have a single objective — to convert customers.
First, we suggest composing a short and concise SMS campaign with a link to your landing page. We recommend shortening the link with our Branded Tracked Links feature to ensure the SMS stays within 160 characters.
The goal is to create curiosity and to get them to click on the link. From there, the landing page takes over the narrative, whether your objective is to get your customers to purchase a product or to make a reservation or to register for an event.
Keep in mind that with landing pages, you have the flexibility to make changes to it at any time. Also, depending on how many people you send to, using landing pages with an SMS campaign can be a cost-saving alternative to MMS, where the cost per message is higher.
2. Growing your email database
SMS is ideal for time-sensitive alerts such as flight delays, but it’s not so ideal for long-form content. That’s where email comes in.
Let’s pretend that you are promoting your new cooking recipe book, and you want to generate leads by giving away a free recipe to riders at your local train station. The commuters see your poster and begin to text in a keyword like “Recipes” to your virtual number. Do you think they will appreciate receiving the recipe in SMS plain-text format or email with PDF attachment? Probably the latter.
If you use MailChimp for email campaigns, we have a Zapier integration where you can let customers subscribe to your MailChimp email list via SMS. Once subscribed, you can send a welcome email that contains your cookie recipe. Now that’s a win-win.
Using SMS to trigger email automation allows for simple opt-in experience, without the need for using Wi-Fi or mobile data.
3. Automating your workflow with Zapier
Speaking of Zapier, did you know we have over 1,500 integrations with your favourite web apps that can help you automate your workflow?
For instance, car dealerships can use our Google Calendar integration to send messages automatically to remind customers for their upcoming service appointment. Not-for-profit volunteers working in developing countries with no internet access can continue communicating with their team via our Slack message integration. Companies in general can shorten their sales cycle by automating their initial contact with our Facebook Lead Ads integration.
We invite you to check out our past integration blog articles to discover the power of SMS integrations, and to get inspiration for your next marketing campaign.
4. Promoting your app with SMS
With about 4 million apps today on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store combined, have you wondered how to get your app into peoples’ phones? With SMS, you can send a direct link to your app, which eliminates the need to search.
There are a couple of ways to do this. You can advertise an SMS keyword and your virtual number on a print ad. The keyword can trigger an automated response with your app link. Alternatively, you can ask your customer to type in their phone number on a web form to receive the application link.
5. Engaging your audience with SMS
SMS is most suitable for personalised, immediate, and concise communication. Lead generation is a primary focus in marketing, and converting them is the ultimate goal. That’s where timely engagements with your leads can potentially help you close your next deal.
You can prompt engagements with your potential leads by encouraging them to text a simple SMS keyword to your virtual number. From there, you can respond to them via 2 Way SMS.
For example, realtors can post print advertisements with an SMS Keyword that customers can text to obtain information about the property. The SMS platform can automatically process replies and incoming messages through the use of a virtual number.
The realtor can also manually respond with Quick SMS to answer questions and build rapport. Email to SMS is another option where they can reply via email and have it sent as an SMS.
If you are on your phone or your computer, you can engage with your potential clients anywhere, at any time.
Final Thoughts
SMS is the preferred choice for getting your customers’ attention with an open rate of 98%. It’s simple in context with a 160 character limit, and all mobile phones support SMS delivery without the need to download and sign-up for additional apps and services. We believe SMS is an ideal complement to pre-existing marketing methods that can yield a better return on investment for your endeavours.
